Allyson Hobbs is an Assistant Professor in the History Department at Stanford University. . She has served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in History. The New York Times Sunday Book Review of 'A Chosen Exile", 450 Jane Stanford Way Raising Freedom's Child: Black Children and Visions of the Future after Slavery (Book Review), Searching for a New Soul in Harlem: Allyson Hobbs on Racial Passing and Racial Ambiguity during the Harlem Renaissance, Conclusion: A Paradigm Shift in Fits and Starts. My dad, for his part, winced when my mom couldnt remember a name or asked the same question twice. A secret in her own family led Allyson Hobbs, AM02, PhD09, to uncover the hidden history of racial passing. But my mother wasnt joking. An older boy would steal the jacket before its leather sleeves had the chance to crease. Building 200, Room 113 Ad Choices. It was, as Allyson Hobbs writes, a chosen exile. Hobbss cousin was 18 when she was sent by her mother to live in Los Angeles and pass as a white woman in the late 1930s. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Allyson Hobbs is an associate professor of American history and the director of African and African-American studies at Stanford University, and the author of " A Chosen Exile: A History of. You know, we have that in our own family too. That was the bombshell, the offhand remark that plunged historian Allyson Hobbs, AM02, PhD09, into a 12-year odyssey to understand racial passing in Americathe triumphs and possibilities, secrets and sorrows, of African Americans who crossed the color line and lived as white. . Hobbs also describes the upper-class Johnston family, who in the early 1900s became stalwarts of social and civic life in an all-white New Hampshire town. My connection to Harvard is fundamental to who I am today, Hobbs said. One of the loved ones Hobbs lost helped spark her current book project, a study of the Great Migration through the experiences of travelers heading north through a segregated country. Allysons first book, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, published by Harvard University Press in 2014, examines the phenomenon of racial passing in the United States from the late eighteenth century to the present. I am in a small boat, too fatigued to pick up an oar, lost at sea. It won two prizes from the Organization of American Historians, the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for the best first book in American history and the Lawrence W. Levine Award for the best book in American cultural history, as well as other honors. This revelatory history of passing explores the possibilities and challenges that racial indeterminacy presented to men and . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And her mother wanted her to come home right away. She doesnt know what became of the cousin in Los Angeles. The man whom my mom had loved since she was a teenager was now slower, unsteady and aging. We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne. Students' reflections on Allyson Hobbs' seminar, "On the Road: A History of Travel in Twentieth Century America," AMSTUD 109Q, The Great Migration, C-SPAN, "Lectures in History,"May 10, 2011. Hobbs earned her Ph.D. in American history from the University of Chicago. She wanted to stay in Chicago; she didnt want to give up all her friends and the only life shed ever known. But her mother was resolved. Internal Mail Code: 2152 Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? And that tells another story about black businesses and the decline of black businesses. And with that Albert and Thyra began the journey toward blackness again. Excerpt: Lost Kin (University of Chicago Magazine, MayJune/15). Her grandmother died just as she was finishing A Chosen Exile, but the stories stayed with her. Her endless patience was wearing thin, her natural gentleness was hardening, and she seemed uncharacteristically annoyed. After my sisters death, there were an intolerable number of losses in our family grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins but somehow, my parents pulled through. The book was also selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2014, a Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014 by The Root, a featured book in the New York Times Book Review Paperback Row in 2016, and a Paris Review What Our Writers are Reading This Summer Selection in 2017. Her work has appeared in. She teaches courses on American identity; African American history; African American womens history; American road trips, migration, travel and mobility; and twentieth-century American history and culture. Known as the peasant poet, Burns fathered at least a dozen children, with several women,and after leaving the farm he spent most of his career compiling traditional Scottish folk songs that celebrate life, love, work, drinking, and friendship, using warm melodies and emotional chords. Allyson is currently at work on two books, both forthcoming from Penguin Press. Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of United States History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. Hobbs book,A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, explores the phenomenon from the late 18th century to the present. Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of United States History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. I dont have to shuttle between two homes, I wont have to endure remarriages, I dont believe that I am at fault. Allyson is currently at work on two books, both forthcoming from Penguin Press. When historians have taken on the subject, Hobbs points out, they have generally paid far more attention to what was gained by passing as white than to what was lost by rejecting a black racial identity. Hobbs, on the other hand, insists on seeing the history of passing as a coherent and enduring narrative of loss. We hear from the black family left behind. The lighthouse that never failed to guide me home is now out of service. I think of my friends whose parents divorced when they were children or teenagers. I wish I could hear the sounds of the crackling radio and join him, my aunt, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother around the dining table or next to the frosted Christmas tree. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and she received a Ph.D. with distinction from the University of Chicago. Like gay characters, mulattoes always pay for their existence dearly in the end. Her father was dying, she could never come back, she would never see her brothers again., Over the next decade or so while she worked on her dissertation and then the book, Hobbs suffered her own series of losses as people close to her diedthe aunt who told her the story about the cousin and three first cousins who were like brothers and sisters to Hobbs. It was protected by a boundary that no black person (aside from domestics and other workers) dared to cross. As racial relations in America have evolved so has the significance of passing. Could a California Christmas with yards of garland, a lively rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and a signature Christmas cocktail substitute for our traditional New Jersey one? I was really struck reading these family histories and seeing all these examples of people who could barely tell the stories of their families., Thats when she began to see loss as part of the narrative. Allyson Hobbs 97, whose award-winning writing, scholarship, and teaching tackle the history and lasting impact of race in the U.S., will serve as this years chief marshal of alumni, the Harvard Alumni Association announced today. On road trips to see relatives in Chicago or to our favorite summer vacation spot, my dad would entertain himself by singing along with the most exaggerated intonations to the hits of the Commodores, the OJays and the Platters. She has won teaching awards including the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize, the Graves Award in the Humanities, and the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award. Her first book, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, published by Harvard University Press, in 2014, won two prizes from the Organization of American Historians: the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for the best first book in American history and the Lawrence W. Levine Award for the best book in American cultural history. Flooded by my own sorrow and heartbreak, I found solace in my parents marriage: They were unbroken; their bond was indestructible. So most New Years Eve revellers just mumble or hum along. Hobbs said she felt deeply honored to be chosen, and called the Class of 1997 the most wonderful group of people Ive ever known. . She was honored by the Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP with a Freedom Fighter Award. She served on the jury for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in History. A Chosen Exile won the Organization of American Historians Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for best first book in American history and the Lawrence Levine Prize for best book in American cultural history. A Chosen Exilewon the Organization of American Historians Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for best first book in American history and the Lawrence Levine Prize for best book in American cultural history. And like her first book, it also began with ambient anecdotes and a family story. . To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, Allyson Hobbs is an associate professor of American history and the director of African and African-American studies at Stanford University. Photo credit: Jennifer Pottheiser Photography. Nowhere to Run: African American Travel in Twentieth Century America explores the violence, humiliation, and indignities that African American motorists experienced on the road and To Tell the Terrible, which examines black womens testimonies against and collective memory of sexual violence. Looking back, nine years after our divorce, I wonder, did we ever have a chance? Toomer argued eloquently for hybridity, but his idea never gained traction., Toomer failed to write anything of lasting impact after Cane. Indeed, Hobbs argues, in the postwar years, to pass as white was in many ways to choose mediocrity to sell ones birthright for a mess of pottage, as James Weldon Johnson put it at the end of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man., Hobbs tells the curious story of the upper-class black couple Albert and Thyra Johnston. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. I notice my father as he muses silently about times gone by and wish that I, too, could go to that kitchenette that he has described so vividly and glimpse him as a little boy, dressed up in his Christmas finery. She has appeared on C-SPAN, MSNBC and National Public Radio. Though scholars have widely argued that Toomer passed as white, Hobbs depicts him as not so much rejecting blackness as rejecting racialized thinking. It must be terrifying for them. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. This is a different type of grief. Since 1899, the 25th College Reunion class has been charged with selecting a chief marshal based on criteria that include success in ones field as well as service to both the University and the broader society. But for every Elsie there is a Robert Harlan, light-skinned, straight-haired, who showed no interest in renouncing his blackness. This revelatory history of passing explores the possibilities and challenges that racial indeterminacy presented to men and women living in a country obsessed with racial distinctions. When my mother left our house in New Jersey, my father made two playlists for her with their favorite songs. The moment when I was handed the keys to Highlanders archive was the moment when I knew I wanted to be a historian., Hobbs was extremely active outside the classroom as well, including participating in the Crimson Key Society and the First-Year Outdoor Program. Alumni will be able to reconnect in person for Harvard Alumni Day, reunions, and other alumni programs across the campus, after the pandemic kept many from visiting for two consecutive years. I was in college at the time, and it felt like the ultimate inside joke handed from one racially ambiguous person to another. It is also to be perpetually aware of both the primacy of race and the bankruptcy of the race idea, as Allyson Hobbs, an assistant professor of history at Stanford University, puts it in her incisive new cultural history, A Chosen Exile., Hobbs is interested in the stories of individuals who chose to cross the color line black to white from the late 1800s up through the 1950s. An annual travelogue called The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide helped African Americans navigate their journeys with listings of tourist homes, hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, beauty shops, barbershops, nightclubs, and service stations where they would be welcomed. My sister died one year after my future husband and I graduated from college. She also has taught classes onHamilton(the musical) and Michelle Obama. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor.. When Hobbs joined Harvards Black Student Association, she was able to connect to the Black community at Harvard socially and intellectually.. As this years chief marshal, Hobbs joins alistof illustrious alumni who have held the position, including former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith 94, who is this years featured Harvard Alumni Day speaker; astronaut Stephanie Wilson 88; Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter Linda Greenhouse 68; City Year co-founder Alan Khazei 83; former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan 86; and former Rhode Island Gov. As an alumna, her service to Harvard has included interviewing prospective students, coordinating the Harvard Black Alumni Societys San Francisco chapter, and working on the Harvard College Fund Gift Committee for her Class 15th Reunion. By the dawning of the civil rights era, more and more racially mixed Americans felt the loss of kin and community was too much to bear, that it was time to pass out and embrace a black identity. She has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. Slim and innocuous as a business card, it reads: Dear Friend, I am black. Staggered by this nightmarish new reality, I am grasping for explanations for why my parents can no longer live together. Im a white woman now. She was married to a white man; she had white children. Where were the sources going to be? Fierce in her conviction that the past has much to teach us, Allyson is an example of the countless Harvard alumni who are shaping our world, like all of the chief marshals before her.. The book was selected as a Times Book Review Editors Choice, a Best Book of 2014 by the San Francisco Chronicle, and a Book of the Week by the Times Higher Education in London. Only her sister and aunt, both light skinned, traveled to New York to claim her body. Traveling from New Orleans to Nashville, she found that most of the places listed in the guide no longer exist. I wont go back. But by far the books most potent thread is about loss. She has appeared on C-SPAN, MSNBC and National Public Radio. It is fair to wonder if each of Hobbss subjects from Elsie Roxborough to Jean Toomer to Albert and Thyra Johnston would have had an easier time had they been born today, in the era of Barack Obama and Tiger Woods. My father slowly takes off his glasses and dabs his eyes. And our cousinand this was the part of the story that my aunt really underscoredwas that our cousin absolutely did not want to do this, Hobbs says. The after-dinner hustle and bustle do not disturb my fathers reverie. She takes nothing at face value least of all the idea that the person who is passing is actually and truly of one race or the other. I regret any discomfort my presence is causing you, just as Im sure you regret the discomfort your racism is causing me., To be black but to be perceived as white is to find yourself, at times, in a racial no mans land. A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Lifehas beenselected as: Winner, Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for Best First Book in American History (Organization of American Historians), Winner, Lawrence Levine Prize for Best Book in American Cultural History (Organization of American Historians), ANew York TimesBook ReviewEditors Choice, 2017 Summer Reading Lists for The Paris Reviewand Harvard University Press, Recommended Reading on "Racial Boundaries" by theNew York Times, ASan Francisco ChronicleBest Book of 2014, ATimes Higher EducationBook of the Week, The Root, Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014, 450 Jane Stanford Way Stanford University, Main Quad In her histories of globalism, migration, families, and children, Tara Zahra reveals the fine cracks in foundational stories. It was, as Allyson Hobbs writes, a chosen exile, a separation from one racial identity and the leap into another. She is a contributing writer to, and a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. As her long-suffering mother puts it, How do you tell a child that she was born to be hurt?, To her credit, Hobbs isnt interested in reviving this tragic mulatto archetype. Ive been perseverating over my parents mortality for years. Remember that, Joyce? he asks my mother. Stop walking like an old man, she scolded him. Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of United States History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. Another family will live in our house. Now Im mourning people who are still alive. Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of United States History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. After the publication of Cane, which celebrated Southern, rural black life, Toomer became reticent, even hostile to the notion that he was Negro, body and soul. . This time, he is doing his best imitation of Sam Cooke: Its been too hard living, oh my/And Im afraid to die/Cause I dont know whats up there/Beyond the sky/Its been a long, a long time coming/But I know a change is gonna come/Oh yes, it will.. Then one day, when their eldest son made an off-the-cuff comment about a black student at his boarding school, Albert blurted out, Well, youre colored. It was almost as if Albert had grown weary after 20 years of carefully guarding their secret. Between the eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, countless African Americans passed as white, leaving behind families and friends, roots and community. (now Secretary of Commerce) Gina M. Raimondo 93. He remained close to the other Harlans, one of whom was Justice John Marshall Harlan the great dissenter of the Supreme Court who argued on behalf of equal rights under the law in Plessy v. Ferguson. She committed suicide in 1949. Between the late eighteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries, countless African Americans passed as white, leaving behind families, friends, and communities without any available avenue for return. Allyson is currently at work on two books, both forthcoming from Penguin Press. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/opinion/parents-divorce.html. 2023 Cond Nast. As a first-year graduate student at the University of Chicago, Hobbs happened to mention to her aunt the subject of passing, a casual curiosity sparked by the Harlem Renaissance writers she was reading in school. And in many ways, it is.. Hobbs has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford. I thought their bond was indestructible. Their stately home served as the community hub, and there they raised their four children, who believed they were white. When there is tragedy in these pages, Hobbs locates its source not in the racially ambiguous figure himself or herself, but in the reductive culture into which he or she is born. One year, my grandmother splurged and bought my father a University of Chicago jacket for Christmas. The book was also selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2014, a Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014 by The Root, a featured book in the New York Times Book Review Paperback Row in 2016, and a Paris Review What Our Writers are Reading This Summer Selection in 2017. Whats at Stake in the Fisher v. University of Texas Case? David Fulton, SB64, has owned some of historys most treasured violins, violas, and cellos. The phrase Auld Lang Syne translates to times gone by, and, while Americans expect to hear this song every New Years, few know what the Scottish lyrics actually mean. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Now hes telling their storiesand his own. Merrick Garland is the 86th attorney general of the United States. "Storytelling Matters to Historian Allyson Hobbs,"The Stanford Dish, February 19, 2016, "Stanford Historian Re-examines Practice of Racial 'Passing,'"Stanford Report, December 18, 2013. Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Or, perhaps in their mid-80s after all of the joys, the stories, the sorrows, after all of the life that they have lived together my parents find this final act too frightening and too disorienting.
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